Distance
by Leia Garcia
Summary: No one knows what goes on in Troy's mind, only because he keeps it secret from everyone. He also hides what he has went through during his childhood, for he wasn't ready to let anyone know his painful history. There are many things going on with Troy, but the only results of this is his will to distance himself away from the people that cared about him the most.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers Megaforce. This story is fan-made.**

Troy, Noah, Jake, Emma, and Gia were in Mr. Burley's class, listening to him give instructions.

Troy knew that the things Mr. Burley was trying to tell them was important to listen and pay attention to, but he just couldn't seem to do so. His mind kept wandering off, no matter how much he resisted it. His concentration was mostly on his encounter with Creepox. He knew for sure that Creepox was planning something dangerous, surely against humanity, due to one of his statements during the short encounter. Creepox was worrying him. Of course, Troy trusted that the team would be able to prevail in the end, but Creepox didn't look like an ordinary alien. He seemed more . . . powerful and intimidating than the other aliens that the Megaforce Rangers have faced before. And that scared him. The type of aliens that they've been facing has already been pretty tough. Now, they had a chance of fighting an even more powerful one. What would they do then?

Troy was interrupted from his thoughts when he saw Noah standing in front of his desk, looking at him. Troy looked up and gave Noah a confused expression.

"Want to work on the project together?" Noah asked with a smile. Troy gave him an even more confused look. Project? What project was he talking about?

"You weren't paying attention, were you?" Noah asked knowingly, as if reading Troy's mind. Troy nodded.

"Well, I'll explain it to you then. You still want to work on it together, though?" Noah asked hopefully. Troy nodded slowly and suspiciously. Noah grabbed a desk and set it up so he and Troy were sitting directly across from each other while Troy still gave him a suspicious look. Once Noah settled down in his seat, he finally noticed the look on Troy's face.

"What?"

"Just out of curiosity," Troy started, "Why aren't you working with Jake, like you usually do?"

Noah simply shrugged and handed Troy the rubric for the project. Troy took it gratefully, glad Noah knew what was going on, and skimmed over the paper.

"We're doing a Cell Analogy project?" Troy asked. Noah nodded with a smile.

"Yeah," he replied. "We're doing it on a program that Mr. Burley set up for us. So, we're basically going to use a computer for most of the project." Troy nodded. He wasn't really familiar with working a computer, but at least Noah knew how to.

"Now, all we have to do is create an analogy one could use to explain the function of organelles in a cell. Now, we just need to think of an example," Noah explained as Troy nodded. "The example Mr. Burley gave us, just to help us get a better idea of what he was walking about, was a school. For example, the nucleus could be the principal's office because the nucleus is what controls the cell, like how the principal controls the school. Get it?"

Troy didn't answer or make any movement. He just continued to stare at his desk. Noah furrowed his eyebrow and waved a hand in front of Troy's face. Still nothing.

"Earth to Troy?" Noah asked. Troy returned to reality and looked at Noah apologetically.

"Sorry," he replied meekly. Noah gave him a concerned look.

"Troy, is something bothering you?" Troy shook his head. Noah was still unconvinced.

"Are you sure?" he pushed on. Troy nodded, trying to get his friend to stop worrying. Noah nodded as well, but couldn't shake the feeling that something was troubling Troy. He had seen how Troy had been staring off into space during the 20 minutes that Mr. Burley used to give instructions to the class on what to do for the project. Noah knew Troy was a quiet person and probably wouldn't tell him. Plus, now wasn't a good time. They needed to get started on their project, the half without the computer, of course.

"So," Noah started, "what example do you think we should do?" Noah took out his pen and notebook. He flipped though his notebook, onto a fresh sheet of paper and held his pen, ready to write the list of examples they could do.

Troy thought for a moment, trying to put his full concentration on the task at hand. Another example . . .

"We could do the human body," Troy suggested. "That could be an example, the brain being like the nucleus." Noah nodded and wrote that down as the first example.

"We could also do a restaurant," Noah added on to the list.

"A factory?" Troy suggested, unsure if the idea was such a good one. Noah nodded eagerly.

"Yeah, good one," Noah praised, hearing the uncertainty in Troy's voice. He knew Troy was full of confidence, so was pretty surprised Troy showed signs of unsureness. But, everyone has their doubts once in a while. Or maybe it had something to do with what he was sure was troubling Troy . . .

Suddenly, Noah heard the bell rang, indicating that school was over for the day, interrupting him from his sudden thoughts. As Noah and Troy were packing up, Jake, Emma, and Gia walked over to the both of them, ready to leave.

"So," Emma started, "How far have you two gotten into the project?"

"We got a small, very small, list of examples we might use to do the project," Noah answered. Jake nodded and leaned in closer to Noah.

"Buddy," Jake whispered, "can you help me with some examples? Me and Edward are not really good at coming up with one, and it's got nothing to do with the both of us being soccer players."

"Edward and I," Noah corrected. "Edward's name goes before yours." Jake rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, dude," Jake said, blowing off the topic. "Can you help us, though?" Noah sighed. He didn't really have a choice either way.

"Fine."

"Yes!" Jake exclaimed. Gia and Emma looked at him with confused look. Jake looked at them sheepishly.

"Sorry," he replied. Gia and Emma chuckled as Noah rolled his eyes. Jake's attention suddenly shifted to Troy, who wasn't joining in on their conversation. He eyed him curiously. Troy was slowly putting his things into his backpack, but seemed to not pay attention to what he was doing.

"Troy?" Troy's head snapped up and looked at Jake. Jake gave him a concerned expression.

"Dude, are you okay?" Troy nodded, not wanting Jake to worry. Jake was about to question him further when his stomach started grumbling. Gia and Emma started laughing while Noah rolled his eyes, like they had done a few minutes ago or so.

"Can we go to Ernie's?" Jake asked pleadingly. "I'm hungry." Gia nodded, and all of them started walking towards the door.

Jake, though he got distracted for a moment, didn't forget about what he was getting at before. Something was up with Troy. He just knew it. Sure, he wasn't one to read minds very well, but he just has a feeling that was telling him something was deeply troubling Troy.

Another grumble from his stomach interrupted his thoughts. Jake pushed those thoughts away for now. He would talk to Troy about it later. All he wanted to do right now was eat some frozen yogurt at Ernie's Brainfreeze to shut his stomach up.


	2. Chapter 2

Troy walked along with his friends through the school's hallway, not making any eye contact with anyone nor uttering a word. His mind was still on that encounter with Creepox. He didn't know why. He just couldn't seem to get his mind off of it. Plus, he was already making his friends worried and suspicious. They were going to find out sooner or later, but now just wasn't the time to reveal it.

When the five of them exited the school's front doors, Troy turned to his friends.

"You guys can go to Ernie's without me," Troy said, hoping he wasn't being any more suspicious than he already was. He just didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment. "I'm just going to go home and catch up on some History homework."

Emma, Gia, Jake, and Noah gave him a suspicious look, but nodded anyway. Troy made a right turn to leave, heading down the sidewalk and, eventually, out of sight. They continued walking to Ernie's, making a conversation on the way.

"Has anyone been noticing that something is up with Troy?" Noah asked curiously. Jake nodded.

"I have," Jake answered. "He was barely paying attention to anything really."

"What do you mean?" Emma asked, confused as to what the boys were talking about. Jake frowned. Surely Emma and Gia have noticed Troy's peculiar behavior, right?

"I noticed he wasn't paying attention to Mr. Burley's instructions," Noah chimed in. Jake nodded and looked back at the girls.

"He was also staring off into space when he was packing up," Jake added. Gia raised an eyebrow, completely bewildered as to what they were getting at.

"He was?" Gia asked while Emma was giving the boys the same look she was giving them. Troy was acting strange? How did they not notice this? That's when Gia thought of something. While they were walking down the hallway, and out the door eventually, Troy hadn't said a word, not even one. She had been able to catch a quick glance at him before they exited the school, and he didn't look like he was hearkening to anything they were saying.

"Now I see what you guys are getting at . . .," Gia murmured, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear. "When we were walking down the hallway . . . . I don't remember Troy saying anything."

"Maybe he's just shy," Emma suggested, trying to look at this situation at every angle. But, Gia just shook her head.

"He was looking down at the floor, and he seemed to be withdrawn from the conversation," Gia explained. "Plus, he's not shy. He's our leader, for crying out loud. If he was too shy to speak up, do you think Gosei would've picked him to be the Red Ranger?" Gia whispered that last part, just to make sure no one heard her.

Emma furrowed her eyebrows. Gia did have a point. If Troy was a shy person, his character wouldn't have been fit to be the Red Ranger. The Red Ranger had to make all the calls and had to be confident. If Troy was too afraid to tell them what to do, he'd have gotten them all killed by now.

"Well, what do you think's going on with him?" Emma asked. Jake and Gia didn't answer while Noah just shook his head.

"I don't know, but if whatever's bothering him gets to him too much, we'll pry the answers out of him somehow. For now, though, let's just let Troy decide whether he wants to tell us or not. Does it sound like a good idea?" Noah finished.

Just as Emma, Jake, and Gia nodded, he realized that they had just approached Ernie's Brainfreeze inside the mall. Noah opened the door for Emma, Gia, and Jake to enter and followed them inside. They sat at their usual table. Once Ernie saw them come in, they immediately nodded, indicating that they were going to order the usual. They came here so often that Ernie had already memorized the options on the menu that they liked and disliked. Plus, he already knew what they wanted to order every time they came here by heart. He didn't quite memorize Troy's yet. He didn't come as often as the others, apparently.

As Ernie came with their smoothies, Gia stood up. She thanked Ernie for the smoothies before turning back to her friends.

"I'm going to go use the restroom," Gia said. "I'll be right back." The three remaining Rangers nodded as Gia left.

"She's so pretty and strong . . .," Jake said dreamingly as he stared at Gia as she walked away, eventually out of sight. Emma punched him in the arm playfully, just to get his attention.

"If you want to get anywhere near that close to Gia, you'd have to get through me, first," Emma warned him playfully and seriously at the same time. Gia was her best friend, practically her sister. She needed to make sure whoever Gia dates is a good guy, not wanting her to get hurt. But, she also knew Jake was a good guy, so she wouldn't have to worry as much. However, she still couldn't let her guard down.

"I got it, I got it," Jake said, holding his hands up as if surrendering. Emma and Noah chuckled at Jake's childish behavior, wondering if Jake will ever become more mature.

Just as Emma was about to tease Jake, they heard a loud crash coming from near the entrance. All heads in and near Ernie's snapped towards where the sound was coming from. Emma, Jake, and Noah's jaws dropped, surprised by what they saw. Apparently, it looked like an old man was thrown through the window by someone, or something. Emma immediately ran up to that old man and helped him up, followed by Jake and Noah doing the same.

"What happened?" Jake asked no one in particular. In almost an instant, his question was answered by the loud noise coming from outside of Ernie's.

It was a Warstar alien.

The three teenagers' eyes widened and they immediately rushed into Ernie's recycling area/room, where no one usually went in. Noah immediately pulled out his morpher and called Tensou.

"Tensou, Gosei, we have a situation. Call Troy immediately!" Noah commanded.

"Got it!" Tensou said through the morpher. Noah, Emma, and Jake instantly morphed and rushed out of the recycling room, ready to deal with the conditions until Troy came.


	3. Chapter 3

Just as Noah, Jake, and Emma rushed out of Ernie's, they saw that Gia was already in the fight against the Loogies, which meant either Gia just exited the restroom or Tensou called her. Either way, Gia was already in the fight and needed help.

Emma, being Gia's best friend, immediately went to help her with Jake and Noah right on her tail. They launched right into action, taking down the Loogies one by one. By now, everyone in the building was smart enough to evacuate out of the mall. There could still be some people still stuck in the building, so they'll have to check that out once they took down the Loogies that were caught up in the riot.

In about two minutes, the Loogies were gone.

"Are we done?" Jake asked, wanting to confirm what they were going to do next. Gia shook her head.

"We need to find the commander of these Loogies, the Warstar alien that threw that man through the window . . ."

"Oh yeah," Jake exclaimed as realization hit him. He had totally forgotten about that, even though it only happened five minutes ago.

"There could also be some people that are still trapped in here," Emma reminded them. "Do you think there are still Loogies in different places around the mall? And the Insectoid could be roaming around the building, too."

"Maybe," Noah answered. "We should check. Let's split up." Emma, Gia, and Jake nodded as all of them went their separate ways.

"Wait!" Jake exclaimed as he turned back to look at his teammates.

"What is it?" Emma asked, perplexed as to why he stopped them. They needed to make sure no citizens were in harms way immediately.

"Where's Troy?" Jake asked. "Shouldn't he have been here a few minutes ago or so?" Everyone frowned behind their helmets. That was a good question. Where was Troy?

Gia shrugged eventually. "Maybe there was a disturbance on his way here or something. Now let's go! We need to check to see if everyone really evacuated out of the building!" The rest did as Gia told and split up, hoping that wherever Troy was, he was okay.

-Megaforce-

As Troy was making his way to the mall, getting a call from Tensou, he stopped dead in his tracks. He stood, frozen, in the city, as he stared at the sight ahead of him.

Creepox.

Creepox, the thing that was on his mind from the moment he had that encounter, was here, standing a few yards away from him. All the questions from earlier that day came back to his mind. What is Creepox want? Was it a fight? Who is Creepox? Was he one of those normal aliens, or was he a special Warstar? All of these questions came rushing back to Troy, demanding him for some answers.

"Oh, you're that weak human from earlier today. Interesting. Ready to fight now, Red?" Creepox asked with an evil edge, clashing his sickles together. Troy frowned. How did Creepox know he was the Red Ranger, anyway? He wasn't even morphed yet. But, Troy shook his head towards Creepox's question.

"I already told you earlier," Troy called out. "Humans are a lot tougher than we look, but I won't fight you just to prove it."

"Well, you're going to fight me anyway," Creepox concluded. Troy shook his head once more.

"I'll only fight to protect the Earth and it's people. I won't fight for anything else," Troy informed firmly. Creepox gave him an evil smirk.

"If that's the way you want it," Creepox said as he used one of his attacks, apparently named Meteor Shot, at a building nearby, completely destroying it. Troy's eyes widened. No one in the building could have possibly survived that. Troy turned back to Creepox with a look of shock, stunned that Creepox would destroy a whole building just to provoke him into fighting.

"What about now, Red?" Creepox asked, almost one hundred percent sure of what the answer will be.

"I guess you give me no choice," Troy said slowly, pulling out his morpher and morphing quickly. He drew out his Dragon Sword and altered his stance into a fighting position.

Troy and Creepox stood there completely still for a few moments, getting ready to launch into action.

Suddenly, they charged at each other, trying their hardest to win this fight. Creepox wouldn't lose to a puny human, and Troy wouldn't give up until Creepox dies.

-Megaforce-

Emma, Gia, Jake, and Noah met up near the front of Ernie's, the place that they said they'd meet up at after they've completed checking the whole building.

"Found anything?" Gia asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"Nope," Jake, Noah, and Emma replied in unison. Gia nodded, indicating she understood. They were all pretty sure there was no more harm in the building, so it wasn't a big surprise.

"Has Troy come yet?" Jake asked suddenly, turning his head around to look and see if Troy was anywhere near. Emma shook her head.

"If he was here, he would've called us. He hasn't yet," Emma answered. Noah sighed. It doesn't take that long for Troy to come here from his house. Where was he?!

As if on cue, Noah's morpher beeped. Noah instantly pulled it out while everyone huddled around him, wanting to see if it was Troy.

"Troy, is it you?" Noah asked hurriedly, getting a bad feeling about where and what Troy was and was doing.

"No, it's me, Tensou." Noah had a look of worry and disappointment under his helmet. If Troy didn't call, then that meant that he hadn't made it to the mall yet.

"What is it?" Gia asked, knowing that if Tensou called, it had to be something Ranger-related.

"Enter the city, now!" Tensou commanded. Emma wore a confused look.

"Why? Is there a Warstar alien attack?"

"You could say that . . .," Tensou answered slowly. "Troy's been fighting it for about fifteen minutes, now. Hurry, and help him! He can't keep up much longer!"

"Alright, we're coming," Jake said and rushed out of the mall with Noah, Emma, and Gia right behind him.

As Emma followed the others into the city, she couldn't stop herself from worrying. She knew that Troy was a good fighter, the best out of them all, actually, but if he was almost down for the count, that alien is pretty tough. She just hoped that the rest of the team would be able to get there in time to help him.


	4. Chapter 4

As Emma, Jake, and Gia entered the city, they walked around and skimmed the area quickly, trying to look for any signs of Troy and/or a battle going on. Noah was just staring at his morpher through his helmet, trying to locate where Troy was with the coordinates that Tensou had sent him. Tensou usually did that, just to make sure that the Rangers would get there fast and easy.

Noah looked up from his morpher for the first time in twenty minutes to see where he was. He saw that he was somewhere in the city, but his attention had already shifted to his friends, who were going around at random places, seemingly looking for something. Noah rolled his eyes.

"Guys," he called out, making Emma, Gia, and Jake look his way instantly.

"I have the coordinates that Tensou sent me that'll lead us to where Troy is. No need to go looking around frantically," Noah informed. Jake threw his hands up in the air.

"Now you tell us?!" Jake exclaimed, remembering that Noah had not told him and the girls about Tensou's coordinates. Though, Noah gave him a confused look under his helmet. He hadn't told them that yet?

"Are you sure that I haven't told you anything about the coordinates?" Noah asked, scratching the back of his neck. Emma, Jake, and Gia nodded in unison. Noah gave them a sheepish grin, even though he knew the others weren't able to see it.

"Sorry," Noah apologized. Gia ran up to him and gave him a stern look.

"We need to find Troy, fast. He could be in serious trouble right now. I don't mean to be rude, but read that thing faster!" Gia commanded. Noah fumbled with his morpher at the sound of Gia's stern voice. When he was finally able to hold his morpher properly, he looked at it with his full concentration once again, just like he had done before.

"The alien's coordinates are this way . . .," he murmured as he started walking further into the city. When he realized that they were running out of time, he started running, the others following close behind him. He couldn't take his time. Troy could've been seriously injured by now while he was taking his precious time staring at his morpher. He needed to move fast, for Troy's sake.

* * *

><p>Troy flew into the air and landed on the ground with a hard thud due to a slash from one of Creepox's sickles. Troy laid on the ground, helplessly, as Creepox walked slowly towards him, looking like he was going in for the final slash. He could do nothing but brace himself, almost all his energy leaving him. He was already in his civilian form, demorphing a few seconds ago when he had hit the ground.<p>

"Weren't as tough as you thought you were, huh?" Creepox taunted, enjoying every moment of their fight. Creepox has been getting the upper hand ever since the whole fight, and it had been quite the workout, considering the Red Ranger was an excellent fighter. But, Creepox still managed to gain the upper hand throughout the whole one-on-one fight.

Troy didn't answer Creepox's question. He barely had the energy to move, never mind speak. As Creepox was only a few inches away from him, he knew Creepox was thinking about finishing him off then and there. He couldn't let that happen. He had to do something.

Creepox lifted his sickles, forming a barrage of small, fast-moving energy shots. Before Troy could do anything, four color-coded blasts shot him in the back, causing him to lose his concentration.

Creepox and Troy looked to see that Emma, Gia, Jake, and Noah have come. Troy sighed out a breath of relief, or at least the best he could with so little energy.

"Rangers?" Creepox cried out in anger, outraged that they had ruined the perfect chance for him to wipe out Troy. "You aren't supposed to be here!"

"Well, we came anyway," Gia snapped back. "Keep your hands, or whatever you call those things, off of Troy!"

"You will all pay dearly for this mistake," Creepox threatened before disappearing. The only rival he wanted to defeat for now was the Red Ranger. He'd deal with the others later.

Gia, Emma, Jake, and Noah wore perplexed looks on their faces. Why would that alien leave just as they joined in on the fight? Didn't he want to destroy all of them?

The four Rangers were pulled out of their thoughts as they heard some movement a few yards away.

"Troy!" Emma exclaimed, rushing over to his side as he tried to stand up. She pushed him down, knowing he was too injured to move around.

"No, stay down," Emma warned him as the other three Rangers came to his side as well. "You need to rest." Troy did as he was told, too tired to fight back.

"We need to teleport back to the Command Center, fast," Gia stated hurriedly. Jake nodded and used his morpher's teleporting feature, taking them right in front of the entrance. Jake groaned. Why couldn't the morphers Gosei gave them just teleport them directly inside the Command Center? In emergencies like this, there's literally no time to walk inside.

Jake turned around to his teammates to help them bring Troy in, but he saw that Troy was already standing up on his own, more or less. He was leaning on Noah, but he was probably just using Noah to keep his balance.

Seeing that Noah and Troy had everything under control, Gia, Emma, and Jake walked in first, trying to get to Tensou as soon as possible. Once Tensou caught sight of the three of them, he let out a sigh of relief, glad that most of the Rangers were okay.

"Boy, am I glad to see you're all right . . .," Tensou stopped mid-sentence when he saw how badly beat up Troy was. Tensou rolled over to Troy in a split second.

"Ooh, Troy! What happened?" Tensou asked in a frantic tone. All Troy did was shake his head, unable to form any words from the exhaustion from fighting Creepox.

"Just help him," Gia commanded. Tensou nodded as he rolled out one of those beds used to nurse the Rangers when they were terribly injured. Noah helped Troy sit down. He would have helped Troy lie down, only if Troy didn't refuse to. That was pretty surprising. Troy looked so tired, too tired to even sit up right. But, instead of collapsing, he was sitting on the bed. That was something the four other Rangers didn't get. Why was Troy pushing himself so much?

As Tensou did a few scans on Troy, Emma, Gia, Jake, and Noah turned to Gosei, who had been silent ever since they walked in. His eyes were litten up, so he was listening.

"Gosei," Gia started, "do you know who that Warstar alien was?"

"I'm not sure . . .," Gosei replied slowly.

"Wait, why did that alien want to fight Troy, but not us?" Noah asked suddenly, causing everyone's attention to be shifted to him, including Troy's.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked. She had noticed that that Warstar was only interested in fighting Troy, due to the way he seemed more angered when the four other Rangers came. If he could've defeated Troy, he could probably defeat all of them as well. Of course, he'd have a harder time getting the better of some of them, but eventually, he'd be able to demolish them all. Why didn't he take that chance to destroy all of them once and for all, so there was no one in the way of the Warstars conquering Earth? It just didn't make sense.

"Well," Noah started, trying to find a way to explain to Emma in a less complicated way, "did you guys notice how Creepox left when we came?" Gia, Jake, and Emma nodded.

"But, he could've been scared or something," Jake suggested. "You know, of us defeating him?" Gia gave him a small grin.

"Don't get so full of yourself, Hot Shot," Gia warned. "That Warstar beat the fudge out of Troy." Gia pointed to where Troy was sitting, Tensou bandaging his wrist. "Do you think we stand a chance?"

"Troy was alone," Emma pointed out. "The five of us together would've been a team. Unity is strength. When us humans work together, we can accomplish anything."

Jake chuckled. "You probably didn't notice, but you were quoting Troy in that last sentence."

Emma thought about it for a moment before she burst out laughing, as did Noah, Jake, and Gia. It was true. She was quoting Troy from the first day of school, when he first walked into Mr. Burley's classroom. Emma looked over at Troy to see what his reaction was. But, instead of laughing along with them, he was staring out into space, seemingly deep in thought as Tensou finished up bandaging his arm. Emma stopped laughing, nudged Gia, and pointed to where Troy was.

Gia, confused as to why Emma's demeanor had suddenly changed, looked over to see Troy not focusing on the conversation, but focusing on something else in his mind.

Jake and Noah had stopped their laughter once they saw how serious Gia and Emma looked. Both guys looked at the direction as to where Gia and Emma were looking and saw it, too. Troy seemingly didn't take in anything they had been saying for the past few minutes or so.

Tensou, seeing that the Rangers were focused on Troy, also looked up to see what Troy was doing that was grabbing everyone's attention. Tensou tilted his head in confusion. What was Troy thinking about?

"Um, hello?" Tensou asked, rolling in front of Troy, trying to get Troy to snap out of his thoughts. "Are you in there? Or are you just zoning us out?"

Troy shook himself out of his thoughts at the sound of Tensou's voice. He looked to see that his friends' eyes were concentrated on him, making him a little uncomfortable.

"What's going on?" Troy asked, bewildered as to why all the attention in the room was on him. Noah stepped a little closer to him.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Noah asked, concerned. Troy nodded.

"Yeah," Troy replied. "It's just a few scratches and burns. Nothing too serious."

"No, I meant are you mentally okay," Noah clarified, earning him an uneasy look from Troy. Troy didn't answer, though, not wanting to talk at the moment.

After a few moments of silence, Gosei decided to speak up.

"Is there something you want to tell us, Troy?" Gosei asked. Troy shook his head slowly, but didn't know what to say. He wouldn't tell anyone about Creepox yet, though he got a feeling that Gosei already knew he was hiding something.

Gosei, sensing the slight tension in the room, decided to break the silence.

"Rangers, you all look very tired. Go home and rest before your parents start to worry," Gosei said. Everyone nodded, but Troy was the first one out, not wanting to be asked any more questions. He would have told them about Creepox, but something in him was telling him now wasn't the time yet. They'd just have to find out later on.

The problem was that they were incredibly suspicious. Troy was usually pretty good at hiding things from others, but the timing of everything was against him. Troy knew that they'd want answers. But, they couldn't find out yet. His gut was telling him to keep his mouth shut. He just hoped that he would be able to resolve and reveal everything soon.


	5. Chapter 5

As lunch came, Troy hurriedly walked to his locker, trying to avoid eye contact with others. He opened his locker door quickly, grabbed his lunch, and rushed out of the school.

"Troy!" Emma called out as she, Gia, Noah, and Jake ran down the halls, trying to catch up with Troy. But, they were too late. He was already out the door.

"Unbelievable," Jake murmured. He let out a frustrated groan. Why was this so hard?

"What's going on with him?" Gia asked, though she knew that the others probably didn't know either. Emma shrugged.

"We were just wondering if he wanted to sit with us at lunch today rather than eating by himself in the Green. I don't think there's anything wrong with that," Emma stated. The four of them have been trying, ever since they stepped foot in the school, to talk to him. Yet, there was always something that stopped them from doing so.

Jake shook his head. "There _is _nothing wrong with that."

"I think he's trying to avoid us," Noah said as he racked his brain for all the times during the day where Troy had seemingly tried to dodge the chances of talking or making any contact with them. Emma, Gia, and Jake's head turned to him with a frown.

"What are you talking about?" Jake asked. He knew Noah was getting at something; he just didn't know what.

Noah took a deep breath, getting ready to list all of the incidents that'll prove his point.

"Well," Noah started, "he ran away from us in the hallway when we were walking up to him during the beginning of the day."

"He probably didn't see us," Emma said in Troy's defense. Noah nodded. That was a possibility.

"He also didn't make any eye contact with us nor any contact at all," Jake added onto Noah's little list. Gia shrugged.

"Maybe he just doesn't want to talk today," she suggested. Noah nodded. That was also another possibility.

"True," Noah remarked. "But, what about now? He just ran away from us," Noah pointed out, pointing to the school's front doors, the ones Troy used to exit.

"Maybe he needed to go somewhere really quickly?" Emma said unsurely, stepping up in Troy's defense once more. Jake rolled his eyes.

"Alright, now we're just making up excuses for him," Jake exclaimed, causing the attention of all the other students passing by in the hallway. Jake looked around apologetically.

"Sorry." Everyone went back to what they were doing. Jake sighed. Why did he always do that?

"What do you mean we're making up excuses for him?" Gia asked, somewhat insulted. "We're just trying to look at the situation at all angles." Jake nodded.

"Sorry. I just meant that it seems as if we're just trying to fool ourselves. Troy has something on his mind that he isn't telling us, and it has got to be related to us somehow because he isn't making any move to start talking to us."

Noah nodded. Jake did have a good point.

"Well, then what do we do?" Noah asked, running out of ideas. "How are we going to find out what's going on around in Troy's mind when he won't tell us?" Gia sighed.

"Look, let's talk about this over lunch," Jake suggested. "We'd be better off eating lunch while talking rather than standing here starving ourselves." The three other Rangers nodded, agreeing with Jake, though they thought the only reason he said so was because he was hungry.

"Alright, then," Emma said, finally, linking arms with Gia. "Let's go to the cafeteria."

The four Rangers walked down the hallway towards the cafeteria, now only thinking about the food that they were about to chomp down on once they reached their destination.

* * *

><p>Creepox walked through the forest in Harwood County, looking carefully around the area, seemingly looking for something. Once Creepox saw what he was looking for, he stopped, smirking as well.<p>

"Hetrix," Creepox sneered, moving closer to the lavender colored Warstar. "So nice to see you you've come."

"Mmhmm," Hetrix said, sounding bored. "You're the one that called me here. Just tell me what you want."

Creepox growled, unhappy with Hetrix's attitude, but decided to ignore it and continue.

"I want you to help me assure my victory against the Red Ranger," Creepox said. Hetrix rolled his eyes.

"Fine," Hetrix said. "I assure you that you're going to have victory against the Red Ranger. There. Can I go now?"

"That isn't what I meant," Creepox said aggressively. "I meant I want you to do something for me that'll help me assure my victory against the Red Ranger."

"You're going to have to be more specific," Hetrix informed. Creepox growled once more.

"I'm not finished," Creepox shouted, which made Hetrix shiver a bit. Something about this Warstar made him fearful, which wasn't usual. He needed to be careful.

"I want you, Hetrix, to use your unique power on the Red Ranger right after this conversation ends," Creepox sneered. Hetrix frowned.

"How would that help you become victorious in the end?" Hetrix inquired.

"The Red Ranger will be so emotionally damaged that he won't have the motivation to keep fighting once he is close to falling." Creepox grinned evilly, almost able to visualize the defeat of Troy.

"Now, where's the honor in that?"

"As long as no one knows," Creepox started, "then my victory will be honorable enough."

"What makes you think I won't tell anyone?" Hetrix asked, confused as to how Creepox could be so sure that no one would know or would be told of his little scheme. Creepox moved closer to Hetrix, the both of them almost colliding against each other.

"Because, if you utter a single word about any of this to anyone, I have enough power to overwhelm you. You'll be reduced to a carcass in less than two minutes," Creepox threatened. Hetrix nodded immediately, frightened by Creepox's threatening and serious tone.

Hetrix didn't have time to say anything anymore before Creepox walked away and, eventually, out of sight. Hetrix sighed. Remembering Creepox's words, he headed straight for Harwood Quarry, ready to launch an attack that'll surely please his new 'commander'.


	6. Chapter 6

Troy ran into Harwood Quarry, with his morpher in his hand. He looked around, and then back at his morpher. He wasn't as good as Noah at reading coordinates, but he was sure this was where Tensou said the Instectoid appeared.

"So, you're the first to come," Troy heard someone say. He turned immediately to the voice and found the Insectoid that Tensou had told him about.

Troy had no response to the Instectoid's comment, so kept silent, his card and morpher ready to be used at a moment's notice.

"That's good," the Warstar continued. "You're the one I'm really after." Troy frowned.

"Who are you?" Troy inquired, curious as to who this Insectoid was.

"The name's Hetrix," Hetrix replied. "And you must be Troy Burrows."

Troy sighed softly and was about to morph when he heard his name being called from behind him. He turned around and saw that it was just his teammates.

"Troy!" Emma called from a distance. Once the four rangers caught up to their leader, Noah gave Troy a curious look.

"Who is this?" Noah asked, unsure of what to do at the moment. Before Troy could reply, Hetrix decided to take action immediately. Hetrix shot blue orbs directly at the Rangers, having Troy as the main target. The Rangers, who didn't see that coming until the last minute, got caught up in the explosion and were out of sight for a few seconds before they jumped out, morphed, with their weapons in their hands and charged at Hetrix.

Though they had the element of surprise, Hetrix was quite fast to recover from his shock and fought back with great power.

After a few minutes, all the Rangers were down.

"I was just getting started, and you're already down," Hetrix taunted. He didn't see why Creepox had such trouble, or any trouble, really, with these pathetic humans. He didn't even know why Creepox needed him to ensure a victory. Creepox was much stronger than himself and could take down these morons in less than five minutes.

Troy slowly stood up, followed by the rest of the team. Everyone charged in at once once more, determined not to let Hetrix overwhelm them. However, there determination wasn't enough to overpower Hetrix. They tried everything they possibly could. They charged directly at him, shot him from afar, and even tried sneaking up on him. Nothing worked. Finally, after countless times of trying, all five Rangers were down and exhausted, but not exhausted enough to demorph. Something was _very _wrong, though. They hadn't even been able to get one hit on Hetrix. What was making this so difficult?

Hetrix sighed. This had been more boring than he could've imagined. None of the Rangers were using any effort, from his point of view, to actually injure him in any way. There struggling was pointless.

"Well, this was a waste of time," Hetrix remarked. "I'm better off just completing my task than toying around with you Rangers. Wouldn't want to keep Creepox from waiting much longer." Noah frowned. What task was Hetrix talking about? Who was Creepox? However, before Noah could find the strength to ask his questions, the Insectoid ran over very quickly, in the blink of an eye, to Troy, the team's leader. Hetrix lied himself down on one knee and looked at Troy curiously. Why did Creepox want to defeat the red one so badly?

Hetrix shook himself out of his sudden thoughts. There was no need to think about that right now. His only worry was succeeding and accomplishing the task assigned to him.

Troy, who was still struggling to stand up, tried to move away from the Insectoid's reach. He hadn't forgotten what it had mentioned before, that he was the main target. While he wanted to stay near his friends to protect them, staying there would also have a possibility of making everything worse. The Insectoid obviously had something planned for him, and it wouldn't be a good thing. Troy knew his teammates would surely try their best to help him, which would more likely get them in more trouble than having any effect on the situation. He needed to stay away as far as possible from them, to protect them in any way he can.

Troy mustered almost all the energy he had left to stand up a bit, even if his posture was weak. Hetrix immediately pushed him down, but that wasn't going to stop him from continuing to try. Troy held his Dragon Sword and slashed Hetrix across the chest, causing him to stumble back a bit. Troy took this as a chance to get a move on it. He stood up quickly and ran away as quickly as he could before Hetrix had the chance to get a start on the chase. Hetrix caught on pretty quickly and ran towards the red Ranger

As Troy continued to run, he could hear his teammates calling to him and pleading him to come back. But, he kept running, determined to stay out of Hetrix's grasp for as long as it took to distance himself away from his teammates. He looked back for a brief moment for quick glance and could see Hetrix almost moving as fast as he was, maybe even faster. The only thing keeping Hetrix away from him was the head start that he had taken before. Troy's eyes' widened as he turned his gaze back to what was in front of him. He took out his morpher and used the teleporting feature. He teleported about one fourth of a mile in front of him. He needed to run as far away from Hetrix as possible, but still in sight for Hetrix to follow, until his teammates were out of harms way for now.

* * *

><p>Noah, Jake, Emma and Gia, who were now standing up weakly, watched in shock and panic as they watched Troy used all the methods he could think of to escape Hetrix's grasp and, apparently, them as well.<p>

"Troy!" Jake tried calling out to Troy again, but Troy probably couldn't hear him from the distance between them. Troy was too far away.

"What're we supposed to do now?" Emma asked. Their leader just ran off, along with Hetrix. They had no leader at the moment, no one to guide them.

"I don't know," Gia replied honestly. "But, I think we should go after him."

"He might not want us to go after him, though," Noah pointed out. "He ran away for a reason, you know."

"But," Gia started, "all five of us are supposed to be fighting that Hetrix creep, not just one. I don't know what Troy's doing, exactly, but he isn't the only one that has a mission to protect the Earth. We have to catch up to him."

Emma, Jake, and Noah nodded as all four of them ran off in Troy's direction. They needed to get there fast, before something, anything, bad happened to Troy.


	7. Chapter 7

Hetrix slashed Troy's legs and across his chest, which caused him to fly through the air and land on the ground with a thud. Troy winced in pain but didn't dare moan. He didn't want to show any weakness, if that was what the ant-based Insectoid wanted.

About countless minutes of pointless struggling had passed, his teammates haven't come, which was a good thing. The whole point of his departure was to protect his comrades from getting hurt. They were going to try to protect him, and when they did, they'd become more injured than the minute before. He didn't want that to happen.

He also didn't know the exact reason why he was targeted, but he did think it had something to do with Creepox, who was mentioned earlier. So many things were unexplained, but now probably wasn't the time to think for answers. Hetrix moved closer to him slowly, as if threatening him to stay still.

"I will finish the task my . . . uh . . . master, err, commander gave to me, whether you like it or not. So, there's no use in resisting, Red. You will fall." Hetrix formed a magenta power ball and slowly walked even closer to Troy, until they were only about two feet apart. Troy tried standing up. Big mistake. He fell right back down and grimaced. He looked down at his leg to see what was causing him the inability to stand up. But, he couldn't tell. Both of his legs were in deep pain, and he had no idea how he was going to be able to fight off Hetrix alone.

* * *

><p>Emma, Jake, Noah, and Gia ran, morphed, as fast as they could around the quarry, now desperate to find Troy. What if he was hurt? What if he was helpless right now and needed them? They weren't there to help. What if he couldn't hold up anymore and gave up? No, that wouldn't happen. Troy never gave up on anyone or anything. He wouldn't decide to start now, though . . . right?<p>

Their thoughts were cut short when they saw a loud explosion off in the distance. Their eyes widened.

"Do you think . . .," Emma trailed off, but was cut short when Gia, followed by Noah and Jake, ran towards the direction of the explosion. They had to get to Troy, before something regretful happened.

* * *

><p>Troy yelped as Hetrix shot the power ball directly at him, causing him to feel immense pain. He felt like his insides were burning. Either they really were burning or it was just because of the explosion that had taken place around him when Hetrix had shot that power ball. Either way, he felt something inside of him change . . . and it wasn't for the better.<p>

Troy fell to the ground and demorphed, still in a lot of pain. The burning feeling had decreased, but he could still feel it there. Suddenly, he heard Hetrix cackle.

"Hahaha!" Hetrix laughed with an evil edge and satisfaction. "That was way too easy. I was actually expecting more from you, Red. I don't even know why Creepox needs to be ensured with a victory. Anyone can beat you in five minutes flat." With that, Hetrix teleported away. He was done with his mission, and he was to tell Creepox this as soon as possible. As Hetrix teleported off Troy lied there, barely conscious.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Yeah . . . sorry about the short chapter. I'm just really busy right now, but I wanted to update, too. So . . . it has to be short. Really sorry. I hope it wasn't that bad, though!_


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